Dear ALL,
With the grisly death of the employee of the Singapore Zoo still very much the talk of the town, I like to state that the management of the Singapore Zoo has failed in its responsibility in looking after the welfare of their employees or those who work in their premises.
If Nordin Montong was indeed "mentally disturbed" then there would have been signs of this many days if not weeks prior to this fatal incident.
Had his supervisors, managers or immediate superiors noticed or bothered to notice then they should have ordered him to seek medical help and perhaps this incident could have been averted. Or at least he wouldn't have died being mauled by tigers.
Reacting to his actions after the fact only compounds the mal-management of human assets in the Singapore Zoo. All reports talk of how he is merely a contract worker and what sort of behaviour he exhibited, all done as if the distance themselves and avoid responsibility.
The point is that many people in organisations as large as the Singapore Zoo depend on contract workers, this is the reality of business today, but at what cost? There is distinct lack of responsibility and accountability towards the very people that work to bring prestige, fame and keep the place running for the organisation itself.
A life was needlessly lost and despite exhibiting all the telltale signs of mental problems, as SPH's ST so boldly states, but the question that goes abegging is why was he ignored?
Wasn't there anyone who could have intervened? Don't huge organisations like the Sg Zoo have meetings with its staff and don't supervisors and managers look out for potential problems among their staff?
Poor all round management and poor humanistics stands out, IMHO.
Personally, when I was a teenager, I used to volunteer at the zoo during school holidays. Bernard Harrison had been there for the longest time and he would talk to all employees at least once a week and he would sometimes call out people for 1 on 1 talks in his office if he sensed something amiss.
Especially when one of the primate keepers was all depressed when Pinky the orang utan died some weeks earlier.
Of course this was way back then when employees were all zoo staff and contract workers were unheard of.
No matter how one feels about Nordin Montong's nationality and the FT issue, one must have some sympathy. The basis of Singapore society has become such that "you die your business" has taken its toll once again. This time it's an FT next time another Sgean.
How many suicides are the result of this attitude? How many lives have been lost because the business model of Singapore leaves no room for personal intervention and interests before organisational. The simple simple answer is, because it makes no economic sense to do so.
There is something seriously wrong with regards to employer to employee relationships in Sg, and this I bet my very last inflation ravaged dollar that this is merely the tip of a collossal iceberg.
Cheers,
MentisMortis
With the grisly death of the employee of the Singapore Zoo still very much the talk of the town, I like to state that the management of the Singapore Zoo has failed in its responsibility in looking after the welfare of their employees or those who work in their premises.
If Nordin Montong was indeed "mentally disturbed" then there would have been signs of this many days if not weeks prior to this fatal incident.
Had his supervisors, managers or immediate superiors noticed or bothered to notice then they should have ordered him to seek medical help and perhaps this incident could have been averted. Or at least he wouldn't have died being mauled by tigers.
Reacting to his actions after the fact only compounds the mal-management of human assets in the Singapore Zoo. All reports talk of how he is merely a contract worker and what sort of behaviour he exhibited, all done as if the distance themselves and avoid responsibility.
The point is that many people in organisations as large as the Singapore Zoo depend on contract workers, this is the reality of business today, but at what cost? There is distinct lack of responsibility and accountability towards the very people that work to bring prestige, fame and keep the place running for the organisation itself.
A life was needlessly lost and despite exhibiting all the telltale signs of mental problems, as SPH's ST so boldly states, but the question that goes abegging is why was he ignored?
Wasn't there anyone who could have intervened? Don't huge organisations like the Sg Zoo have meetings with its staff and don't supervisors and managers look out for potential problems among their staff?
Poor all round management and poor humanistics stands out, IMHO.
Personally, when I was a teenager, I used to volunteer at the zoo during school holidays. Bernard Harrison had been there for the longest time and he would talk to all employees at least once a week and he would sometimes call out people for 1 on 1 talks in his office if he sensed something amiss.
Especially when one of the primate keepers was all depressed when Pinky the orang utan died some weeks earlier.
Of course this was way back then when employees were all zoo staff and contract workers were unheard of.
No matter how one feels about Nordin Montong's nationality and the FT issue, one must have some sympathy. The basis of Singapore society has become such that "you die your business" has taken its toll once again. This time it's an FT next time another Sgean.
How many suicides are the result of this attitude? How many lives have been lost because the business model of Singapore leaves no room for personal intervention and interests before organisational. The simple simple answer is, because it makes no economic sense to do so.
There is something seriously wrong with regards to employer to employee relationships in Sg, and this I bet my very last inflation ravaged dollar that this is merely the tip of a collossal iceberg.
Cheers,
MentisMortis
